Rally Australia: Leg one summary

Chris Atkinson (Subaru) led all morning until his car slid off-line and
became beached in soft sand on stage 6. The hot exhaust ignited undergrowth
beneath Atkinson's car and a small fire broke out which was quickly
extinguished with the help of...

Chris Atkinson (Subaru) led all morning until his car slid off-line and
became beached in soft sand on stage 6. The hot exhaust ignited undergrowth
beneath Atkinson's car and a small fire broke out which was quickly
extinguished with the help of following competitors. Team-mate Petter
Solberg moved ahead, and remained in front until severe hanging dust on the
final country stage cost almost 30sec and he lies second. Xevi Pons
(Citroen) holds third, ahead of Manfred Stohl (Peugeot), who complained of
oversteer throughout the morning. The list of retirements was large. Dani
Sordo (Citroen) stopped on the opening stage this morning with broken
transmission while Matthew Wilson (Ford) hit the same rock as Grönholm and
broke a steering arm. Luis Perez Companc (Ford) rolled on the following
stage and Henning Solberg (Peugeot) also went off on stage 6.

Leg two is based largely on the forest roads south east of Perth and
features nine more stages and 120 competitive kilometres. The morning stages
take place on the logging roads of the Banister pine plantation and include
the famous 'Bunnings' jumps and water splash. After a service in Perth,
crews return to the Beraking and Flynns stages in the afternoon before two
final circuits around the city Superspecial in the evening.

Kronos Total Citroen

Xevi Pons and Carlos Del Barrio have held their own throughout an extremely
difficult opening leg. The Spanish Kronos Total Citroen crew are in a
provisional third place overall : a position they hope to defend to the end
of the rally. The drivers knew that they were starting the leg with the most
difficult stages of the day : two runs each through Murray North and South.
The pitfalls are well-known, but the Murray stages still claimed several
highprofile victims, slashing the World Rally Car field. The only driver who
stopped on these stages through no fault of his own was Dani Sordo, who was
forced onto the sidelines with a gearbox problem. Dani could only sit and
watch as he clocked up a penalty of five minutes for every stage missed, in
accordance with the superally rules. This means that he will start leg two
with a 40 minute gap to the leader, in the hope of making up enough ground
to score some manufacturer points.

Xevi Pons/Carlos Del Barrio: Xevi Pons and Carlos Del Barrio managed to find
the right rhythm to survive this difficult day, without succumbing to the
temptation to push too hard. " I think we can be happy, " said the Spaniard.
" With a perfect Xsara and the right tyre choice [BFGoodrich medium/soft
compound] I forced myself to stay concentrated and follow the right line. It
might not be the most fun way to drive, but it's essential in order to stay
off the 'marbles'. Everything was going well until the final forest stage,
Flynns. There, with the sunset in our eyes, we lost a lot of time in the
dust from the cars ahead. In some sections we were driving blind. "In any
case we are still third, » concluded Xevi. « Tomorrow's stages in he
Bunnings complex are wider - so they are easier and a lot more fun to rive.
I'm going to try to stick to the pace we had today and avoid making istakes.
I had a good feeling after Cyprus and my confidence grew even ore after the
Rally of Turkey. Thanks to all that, I hope to carry tonight's bjective
through to the end of the rally: holding onto third place. »

Dani Sordo/Marc Marti: Retired

OMV-Peugeot Norway

The OMV Peugeot Norway World Rally Team has completed the first day of the
"Telstra Rally Australia". While Manfred Stohl can be content, Henning
Solberg's first Australia adventure ended with a take-off at high speed on
special stage six. A restart within SupeRally will not be possible since the
Peugeot 307 WRC is too heavily damaged. The retirement quota at the World
Rally Cars is singular this season. Five of ten teams already had to give up
on the first day. And top favourite Marcus Grönholm lost over ten minutes
following a rollover on special stage one.

Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor: "Since it hasn't rained recently it is extremely
fast and insanely slippery. I surely was beside the road more often today
than during the last five rallies altogether. If I take a look at the course
of events I get convinced that I chose the right tempo. And there is still a
lot going to happen at this rally."

Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud: "We got off the ideal line during a very fast
left turn which you drive at full speed. At such a moment you don't stand a
chance on this loose gravel. We took off right into the woods. I don't even
remember whether I turned over."

BP-Ford

BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen lead
Rally Australia tonight after an extraordinary opening leg. The Finns are
26.2sec clear in their Ford Focus RS World Rally car after a day in which
the treacherously slippery gravel tracks of Western Australia took a heavy
toll on their rivals. Team-mates Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen fell
foul of the conditions and dropped 11 minutes after rolling their Focus RS.
They are 18th. It is the first time that 26-year-old Hirvonen and
37-year-old Lehtinen have led a round of the FIA World Rally Championship at
the end of a leg.

Marcus Grönholm/Timo Rautiainen: Grönholm and Rautiainen led last night but
their advantage was short-lived. Just 5km after the start of the day's
opening 15.92km Murray North test, the Finns rolled their Focus RS. "I hit
a stone on the inside of a second gear right bend and the impact threw the
car across the road and I rolled over the bank on the opposite side," said
38-year-old Grönholm. "The car rolled once, it was slow and soft, and ended
on its roof. We pushed it back onto its wheels with the help of two or
three people but then it became stuck on a tree stump so we had to jack it
up to get out. We were stuck for more than 10 minutes. I made a stupid
mistake." Although the Focus RS did not suffer serious mechanical damage,
the accident cracked the windscreen and broke both side windows. Although
the crew taped them up as best they could, it was impossible to prevent
choking brown dust from infiltrating the cockpit and they had to tackle
another 70km of competition before returning to service in Perth for
repairs. "It was hell inside. We had so much dust in there that I couldn't
breathe or see. My eyes hurt now and I also hurt my back trying to push the
car over," added Grönholm. The team changed the transmission assembly and
replaced battered body panels and the Finn then posted fastest time over
three of the final four stages. Having dropped to 56th, following the
crash, he recovered to 18th. "I wasn't so fast this afternoon but the others
were hindered by dust. I'm an old motocross rider so I'm used to it. I'm
disappointed because we had the opportunity to lead comfortably and I think
it will be a few years before I forget this. A top five finish is possible
and that's my aim," he added.

Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: "I made no mistakes and had no problems and
that's why I'm leading, but it has been a strange day because I didn't set
any fastest times," said Hirvonen. "Winning is a possibility but I need to
find a balance between fighting for first place and finishing. There are no
words to describe how slippery this gravel is. It was just like driving on
ice. But there is no room for error now that Marcus has lost time and the
pressure is on because I must score good points for the team. "We were lucky
in the dust on the last forest stage. It was hanging in the air and I had
to stop near the finish. I came over a crest and it was like hitting a wall
of dust. Tomorrow will be easier because we will not be cleaning the road
but I know Petter and he will not give up. There are still two days to go
but it is a good feeling to be leading," added Hirvonen.

Stobart VK M-Sport Ford

The Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Team mechanics came into their own after Matthew
Wilson and Luis Perez Companc hit early problems on the opening leg of Rally
Australia in Perth today. The Cumbrian-based outfit refettled both Ford
Focus RS WRC 06s in record time to ensure Wilson and Companc would be ready
to start leg two after their early departures on today's opening leg. The
rally officially started last night, with a brace of runs around the
two-kilometre Gloucester Park trotting track. Companc/Jose Maria Volta and
Wilson/Michael Orr both held comfortable top 10 positions after the second
stage, with the Argentine crew returning to the driving seat of their Ford
Focus RS WRC 06 in sixth position this morning.

Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr: "This was driver error, pure and simple. It was
quite a deceptive place that caught us out - not somewhere we had marked in
the notes. It was a slow right-hand corner with a rock on the inside. The
rock wasn't big and we hadn't seen it in the recce. We came through the
corner in the sunshine and there it was - you could see it clearly. I was
committed to the corner by then, though. We clipped it on full lock and the
impact pulled the driveshaft out and broke the track control arm. The impact
also spun the car through 360 degrees. That was the end of that. It's so
disappointing. I was just starting to get into a good rhythm. We'd had a bit
of an overshoot earlier in the stage, but after that things were starting to
click and I was getting a bit more used to the surface. The car felt
fantastic. It's so frustrating to be standing on the sidelines when we could
and should be out on the stages."

Luis Perez Companc/Jose-Maria Volta: "The conditions in stage four were so
difficult. Before we went off, I had already had two moments. I left the
road after running wide in a left-hander. I hit a rock on the outside of the
corner with a rear wheel and that sent us across the road and down a bank on
the other side. The car dropped onto the drivers' side and came to rest
against a tree. There was really not much damage to the car at all. The big
problem was that there were only a couple of spectators around to help, so
there was no chance of getting it back onto the track. Now I really
understand why people talk about this rally being so difficult - the
conditions are incredible. We're back tomorrow, which is good. I like the
Saturday stages more, so I will try to push hard. At the same time, running
third on the road is going to be tough as we will be sweeping all of the
loose gravel aside for the cars coming along behind us."

Subaru

Subaru World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg holds second place overall at
the end of a dramatic first day of competition on Rally Australia. Solberg
and his team-mate Chris Atkinson were the pace-setters for much of the day
and between them won five of the Leg's seven forest stages in their Impreza
WRC2006s. Australian-born Atkinson won the first three tests of the day and
had a 13sec lead of the rally before a small mistake left his car undamaged
but stuck in deep sand by the roadside. Atkinson retired from the Leg but
will restart on Saturday. Solberg was fastest on two stages and led the
rally overall before losing a place in controversial circumstances when he
was caught in the dust of cars ahead.

Petter Solberg/Phil Mills: "Today was mostly a good day. Early on we made
some changes and won two stages then there were more improvements again
after the service. We lost a lot of time in the dust on both of the last two
forest stages; turning the wrong way on the first and having to stop again
and again on the second. It was just so bad we could not see what we were
doing. Overall though I am quite happy with the position, we made some good
tyre choices, the Pirellis worked very well and we're looking forward to
still more improvements tomorrow."

Chris Atkinson/Glen MacNeall: It was obviously a disappointing end to the
day. We were trying hard for the whole team here and were leading but
unfortunately made just a small mistake and that's it - we're out for the
day. We went a little wide on one corner and didn't recover for the next. We
slid to a stop on a bank partly off the road. We tried to reverse, but we
couldn't and that was that. The car's pretty much fine, there was a small
fire, but we got it out with little damage and we hadn't hit anything. We'll
probably restart tomorrow but we've still blown our chances of a podium or a
win."